MySQL : Installation on Linux

This article gives examples of installing MySQL on both Oracle Linux 6 (RHEL6/CentOS6) and Oracle Linux 7 (RHEL7/CentOS7). It also includes examples of MySQL 5.6 and 5.7 installations. Pick the combination that you need.

If you don't need the latest MySQL version, you can use the version present in the regular RHEL/Oracle Linux distribution.

Start the MySQL Service (mysqld)

Make sure the mysqld service is set to start on reboot and start the service. On startup the service will prompt you with information on how to secure the installation. The example below is based on an installation on Oracle Linux 6.

# chkconfig mysqld on
# service mysqld start
Initializing MySQL database: Installing MySQL system tables...
OK
Filling help tables...
OK
To start mysqld at boot time you have to copy
support-files/mysql.server to the right place for your system
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h rhce1.localdomain password 'new-password'
Alternatively you can run:
/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
which will also give you the option of removing the test
databases and anonymous user created by default. This is
strongly recommended for production servers.
See the manual for more instructions.
You can start the MySQL daemon with:
cd /usr ; /usr/bin/mysqld_safe &
You can test the MySQL daemon with mysql-test-run.pl
cd /usr/mysql-test ; perl mysql-test-run.pl
Please report any problems with the /usr/bin/mysqlbug script!
[ OK ]
Starting mysqld: [ OK ]
#

If you are using Oracle Linux 7, you will need to perform the following.

# systemctl enable mysqld
# systemctl start mysqld

Basic Configuration

Make sure SELinux is running in permissive mode, so you can change the locations of the MySQL files.

# setenforce Permissive

Make the setting permanent, by editing the "/etc/selinux/config" file, setting the following value.

Secure the Installation

As suggested by the startup output, run the "/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation" script to secure the installation. The process is a little different if you are using MySQL 5.7 compared to previous versions. First, let's take a look at securing MySQL 5.6. Hit return when prompted for the root password and pick all the default options.

# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MySQL, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL
root user without the proper authorisation.
Set root password? [Y/n] Y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
... Success!
By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
- Dropping test database...
... Success!
- Removing privileges on test database...
... Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Cleaning up...
All done! If you've completed all of the above steps, your MySQL
installation should now be secure.
Thanks for using MySQL!
#

If you are securing MySQL 5.7, there is a random root password defined by default. You can see what it is by issuing the following command.

# grep 'temporary password' /var/log/mysqld.log

Once you run the "/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation" script, you will be asked to supply the root password. Use the password displayed by the previous command. In this version, the default answer to every question is "N", so you will have to explicitly answer "Y/y" for every prompt.

You are now ready to start using MySQL.

There are additional hardening steps you should consider, as described here.

Create Database

The first thing you will probably want to do is create a database. First you must connect to MySQL.

SELinux

If you are using SELinux in "enforcing" mode on the server, moving the datadir and log_bin directories can cause SELinux to complain. You will either need to set it to permissive, explained here, or put the correct policies in place.